


Warmth

by Amblelambs



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Cold Rey, F/M, Fighting, Force Bond (Star Wars), No Sex, Non-descript nudity, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Soft Ben Solo, Survival Tactics, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Violence, Warm Ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25224967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amblelambs/pseuds/Amblelambs
Summary: In a time post TLJ(because TROS never came out, right?)Rey awakens in a strange and wonderful bed. It takes a moment for her to recall what happened before this heavenly comfort. One minute she was fighting a losing battle with icy cold waters, the next she is here. Alive and blessedly warm.Something wrapped around her moves and she realizes she is not alone.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 8
Kudos: 89





	Warmth

Warm.

Rey felt warm. 

And soft.

She wasn’t sure if she ever felt this way. It was a dreamy and puffy, cloud-like comfort. 

Rey was in a bed, she realized. Not just any bed, something beyond that. Clearly it was built to hold and cradle and support. It wasn’t simply a better option than the floor or a cleared platform. Not just a safe place to close your eyes and wait for the morning to come again

No, it was a bed of new definition.

Rey wiggled her fingers and felt the fabric which enveloped her. It was so finely crafted that she couldn’t feel the weave or thread of it. 

She wouldn’t open her eyes yet. If she did, the magic of this place might be gone. She would see a bed and this would all just seem ordinary. Not like this floating space that blurred the edges of her, blending into the cozy middle ground of wake and sleep.

As she reached further out with her senses, she became aware of a cool pass of air about her neck and shoulder. Focusing more about her body, she came to understand that she wasn’t dressed. That would explain the softness all around. Her skin was more familiar with coarser cloth.

Why was she naked here in this womb of fluffy warmth? 

Where was she before this? 

…

…

Cold and wet.

.

.

.

Now she remembered.

Rey had come to a white planet full of snow in search of a man who Maz said could help her to understand kyber crystals. He didn’t know enough to offer in the way of lightsabers or Jedi, but it would be a good place to start.

While trekking through the Arctic terrain, the force opened up. Kylo commented on her snow swept hair but she did her best to ignore him and trudge further and before long, it had closed again.

Of course, as her luck would have it, he had remarkable deduction skills. She didn’t know how much he must know about how close The Resistance base was to this planet, or if he had any tip offs related to her ship, or even if he had guessed a few other snowy planets first before guessing this one, too. In a matter of hours she heard the cry of a ship, specifically the ship of Kylo Ren.

Rey cursed herself for getting off her own vessel early. She had the coordinates slightly off, but space travel made her restless. She decided to walk and get a feel for wintery exposure. After all, the planet she would find kyber on would be quite blistery as well. She regretted it now.

It was hopeless to run from him, so when he caught up to her, Rey engaged him. She had to be very careful with her weapon, a staff which could withstand a lightsaber. Although it could fend off his strikes, it wouldn’t last in the long term and it was clear that he wasn’t above allowing this weapon to strike him as he guarded the swings with his forearm, grunting out in pain but enduring..

The tactic allowed him to throw her off, not quite landing any blows, but he seemed to be trying to disarm her or capture her instead.

The staff finally snapped and for a tricky few minutes Rey defended with the two broken pieces, before hurling them at him and taking off away from him. 

And she had been right. Running hadn’t been the right move, but for a reason she didn’t see coming.

With a few yards between them, she didn’t realize she had treaded thin ice until her boot fell through with a crack. The sinking of her foot caused her to trip and in an instant she crashed down into broken water. 

The ice scrapped and tore at her thick garments, but did nothing to stop her from disappearing into the frigid waters. Her muscles went into shock and any air in her lungs seemed to vanish at the painful freeze that engulfed her.

Not a strong swimmer, Rey did her best to return to the hole she created, but there was enough of a current that she missed by a foot or so. Unable to scratch and claw her way to the opening, the water dragged her further.

Red came stabbing through the ice at her and Rey pushed away. Kylo was relentless, even now he tried to kill her, saber spearing around her and slicing through the ice over her. Of course he wouldn’t give her the chance to get out. He had probably been toying with her before. It was always his plan to kill her.

There was nowhere to retreat to so she let the arctic flow take her, unable to break through the ice with the threat of Kylo piercing towards her everywhere she went.

Rey was too inexperienced with bodies of water and holding her breath and being so painfully cold. It couldn't have even been twenty seconds and it was obvious that the water would take her life. Whether it was the cold that blacked her out or the lack of oxygen, it didn’t matter. It didn’t hurt. 

It felt like falling asleep.

…

…

How, then, did she end up here? 

Alive. 

She didn’t drown and she hadn’t frozen to death. Who could have been close enough to run Kylo off and save her life? The Kyber man? Had the Resistance come out of nowhere at the right time, against all odds?

Something moved against her abdomen and if she hadn’t lived a life of internalizing her fears she might have jolted or made a noise. Her heart hammered and she held her breath. Whatever it was had stilled.

Calming down so that she may think, Rey was able to turn her attention to the rest of her body. There was something wrapped around her. 

No.

Two things.

Rey opened her eyes, the marvelousness of this place had evaporated by this point anyway. It was dark, suggesting nighttime. Her eyes adjusted to the room. This definitely wasn’t a ship cabin or anywhere she recognized.

That detail wasn’t important now. Her eyes fell to flesh. Slung over her blanketed body was a bare arm. A man’s arm, the forearm bruised pretty badly with deep splotches of blues, purples, and reds. His hand lightly grasped the covers by her chest.

She was in bed with a man. Naked.

They both were undressed, she was suddenly aware. From what she could tell, she was bundled in a sheet which was her’s alone and there was a comforter over the both of them. While they were not skin to skin, she could still feel through the thin sheet that there was a soft lump, of what she had no trouble guessing to be male genitals, pressed to her backside.

She had never felt a man before, but she had seen the naked and picked over bodies of men discarded in the desert near Niima Outpost.

Who is this?!

Who is this?!

Rey felt a panic. She couldn’t see any clothes from where she lay, but there was a naked man holding her. His other arm was wound about her waist, tight against her covered stomach. She couldn’t see this one under the blanket, but she knew it was there. It was that hand which had moved before.

Bruised forearm? Her brain was catching up. 

Slowly, Rey looked back to the man who was holding her.

Kylo Ren? 

.

She continued to stare, dumbfounded. 

Rey should have jumped away, punched him, screamed. She should have been more alarmed, frightened. But she wasn’t, and that scared her more.

Messy black hair stuck out and clung at odd angles. His mouth was slightly agape, lips in a pout as he slept, eyes closed peacefully, and face relaxed.

He saved her?

Oh… 

No, that meant before. He wasn’t… He was…-

Not trying to kill her. 

When he drove his red lightsaber into the ice after her, he wasn’t trying to kill her. He was trying to get to her. To break the ice around her to get her out.

Her mind revealed her last memory of light through the ice as chunks lifted away. The feeling of something, which was not the current, pulling.

If Kylo saved her and she was naked… He had taken off her clothes. He had seen her nude. Rey felt an embarrassed flush rise to her cheeks. She wanted to be more upset, but knew it was a survival tactic. He had striped down as well to give her the warmth of his body.

Rey turned her face forward again. As she did, she felt her enemy stir. Pretending to sleep was not a new thing for her. When she was a child she would appear to be sleeping so that Unkar Plutt would not come to her.

He was a slimeball. The way he talked and touched her may not have been outright sexual, but it always felt perverse. Excuses to touch her hair and arms and face. It churned her stomach.

Rey kept her thoughts quiet, an extra measure for Kylo as he leaned up from behind and glanced at her. She kept her breathing even, feeling him looking over her face in the dark.

After a few minutes he shifted and she could hear his back, shoulders and neck popping. Kylo grunted at a particularly loud crack, then sighed. 

The blanket around her shoulders was carefully pulled up higher and tucked beneath her. The draft she had felt before was effectively cut off. The Supreme Leader lay back down and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her a bit so that their bodies were flush once more, his knees against the backs of hers.

His more accessible hand came back up and rested on her forehead. A moment later, he flipped his hand over so the back of it touched her instead of his palm, as if unsure of the right way to check a temperature. 

Ben reset back to his previous position, dipping his head to rest brow and bridge of his nose in her crown. Relaxing, he breathed out hot air against the back of her head and neck. Immediately his hand went back to smooth her hair down and he made a "pht" sound a couple times. He opted to move and rest his chin on the top of her head instead.

Rey could feel his every breath. Going in, with his chest expanding against her shoulder blade and coming out as her body fell back with his in time. 

His snores came out as deep rumbling purrs, signaling that he was down. 

The brunette realized that leaving would be impossible. First off, the blanket against her skin was too tight to wiggle out of carefully. Second, the bear that was Kylo Ren, surrounding her. Third. If she managed to risk all of this and woke him up... It would be the two of them. Enemies. Just naked together in bed. What happens then? 

If she, by some lucky force, didn't wake him… She is still naked. With no idea where her clothes were, her ship was probably still on the snow-assed planet she landed on. Knowing Kylo, they were somewhere off that world. 

Subconsciously, Rey allowed herself to sink and melt back into his body as his breath came out again. It was her survival instinct, she told herself. She just needed to wait him out. Kylo wasn't going to kill her or he would have done it already. Or simply let her drown. 

She let out a long sigh. At least he was comfortable. They seemed to fit together in a way that worked. He was so large that she nested just right in the natural angles of his body. And he was warm and she was much colder, the heat he provided was better than the blankets.

He was also strong and secure, she contemplated, beginning to tire again. She didn't think she ever felt this safe going to sleep.

Her musings became stranger as the night took her back. He smelled sort of good, too. Not like cologne as a fair amount of resistance fighters practically bathed in, but also not like body odor. It was a combination of something clean and maybe a bit that was naturally him. Maybe he had washed. He didn't smell like fighting or sweat or war.

In her final conscious thoughts, she wished they could be like this. Instead of fighting .

With that, she surrendered.

\--------

When Rey awoke, she felt lighter. Less warm, but still comfortable. Sunlight filtered through her eyelids and the realization that it was morning brought her to her senses. She knew without opening her eyes that Kylo was gone, so she pulled herself from the cocoon of blankets she had been tightly bound in with a little more effort than she anticipated. Once free, she set her bare feet on the cold floor and started poking around for her clothes.

In the corner of the room was an armchair with a plastic bag on the cushion. The bag had a red label printed on it, part of which read "Dry Cleaning"

She made her way over and opened the plastic to see her clothes folded inside. Wasting no time, she started dressing into her fresh clothes, grateful they didn't smell of mildew.

Although she was certain there was nothing, she did a once over search of the room for anything else she could take with her. A plastic card caught her eye. A door key. Rey nabbed it, then exited through the room door and was met with a long hall. She followed her instincts, which led her down a set of stairs. Her next steps brought her into a small lobby, not nearly as welcoming as the bed had been. In fact, it was dirty and the person waiting for her at the counter looked rough around the edges.

"Your husband already left." He said in a gruff voice, accented by thick jowls. "Ran out real quick. I asked him if he wanted to leave a message for you. "She knows I have to leave." is what he said."

Husband? 

She reeled at that, nearly unhearing the rest of what the man had said. "He told you he was my husband?"

The receptionist sighed as if something was weighing horribly on his conscience. "I was afraid of something like this."

Unsure what he meant, but not wanting to get into any further discussions, Rey interjected "Oh, nothing is wrong! He's just usually a more private person. Strong, silent type and all that."

Instant relief washed over his face. "That gave me a fright." 

It was odd, the level of investment and compassion this man seemed to hold for a stranger. Especially since he gave her the impression of someone who had killed probably more than once.

"I'll be checking out now." She lay the keycard on the counter and waited while he pulled her file up on a datapad. When he set it in front of her, she noticed the details, "Mrs. Solo" as the party checking out and "Luxury Room". Paid in credits, no balance due. She signed on the line in her sloppy, unrefined handwriting. It was rare she had to physically write anything.

"Thank you" she smiled politely, but followed in Kylo's footsteps to make a quick exit.

"Don't forget the breakfast buffet! It's included!" He shouted after her hopefully.

Rey paused, hand on the door.

Her stomach growled as if on cue.

She didn't need to be told twice.

\---------

"Ah!" Rey hissed as a spark zapped her fingers. She popped the hurt digit in her mouth for a moment, before taking her electric tape and binding the wires together.

She crawled out from under the control panel, closed everything back up, and hopped into the pilot seat. With a hopeful flick, the system started up without the password lock put in place by the ship's owner.

Although stealing was not okay, she made sure to steal from someone who clearly had enough to buy another. The hold had several pristine vessels which looked equally unused. Whoever owned them must have been collecting them for the sake of having a collection to brag about.

Rey used the force to open the bay hatch, which allowed her to fly right out and into the blackness of space. When she was clear enough, she turned on the navigation system.

After a few minutes of punching in coordinates, she charted her course back to base. 

The force shifted around her, sound stretching and humming, before she recognized the familiar presence of Kylo Ren. Rey smacked the autopilot, as she had planned to use it anyway, then turned her seat to see the Supreme Leader facing away. He was doing some sort of busy work, though she wasn't sure what.

"Why did you do it?" She asked right away, never sure how long these things will last. "Why'd you save me?"

Whatever he was doing, Kylo stilled his movements and sat back without turning to face her. "That's not the way this should end. When I defeat you, it will be because I was stronger, more skilled, or my form was better. Not because you drowned in a freak accident."

Rey watched him resume his work, the sound of paper and light scratching the only hints of what he was up to. 

She furrowed her brow, not satisfied. If that's all, why did you hold me like I matter? 

Her thoughts were securely behind her mental shields as she recalled his nose in her hair. He doesn't know I wasn't asleep for that. There was a flash of half-waking moments that she felt him snuggle contentedly into her, his grip secure. Hell, when he woke to stretch he had to know I wasn't at risk for hypothermia anymore. 

But she didn't voice these thoughts. Rey traced the leather of her captain's chair, the stitching infuriatingly perfect. There was nothing to pick at or fidget with like the Millennium Falcon. 

"You know," the scavenger murmured as she changed positions, twisting in her seat so that her back rested against one arm of the chair and threw her legs over the other. "I learned the strangest thing this morning." 

He didn't respond, pointedly ignoring her. She knew he wouldn't inquire. They typically didn't talk to each other unless they were fighting or digging for information.

"We're married. Which is odd…" she said with mock confusion, her foot against the command center, swivelling herself from side to side slightly. "I don't remember that happening."

Rey could feel a sort of tension in the man and heard him set something down. A writing implement? 

"I had to say that in order to get a room." Kylo grumbled defensively. "I could feel the Innkeeper fearing for you. In his mind I saw how he saw me."

A memory, one Rey realized wasn't her own, played in her head.

Kylo fumbled with the door handled, carrying Rey in his arms as he managed to open the door to the Inn. He locked eyes with the man at the front desk. 

Feeling distressed and out of breath, exhausted even, he assessed the keeper's terrified expression. Then he peered into his weak mind unintentionally, so much of his thoughts were projected at him already that it was of no additional effort to pull his perspective forward

An image of a maniac, emanating dark energy. His face was carved with a hideous scar. In his arms a beautiful woman, looking like she was dead or dying. 

Rey couldn't help but notice that the Innkeeper's fear had distorted the way they both looked. Kylo wasn't an ugly man at any angle or in any type of lighting. Also, she was not nearly as pretty as she was depicted

She could feel in the memory a strong reaction to the thoughts and accusations the Innkeeper let fly around wildly, but Rey was blocked from feeling what emotions they were or what his thoughts had been at the time.

Just as the scene had suddenly appeared in Rey's mind, Kylo ended it..

"He thought I was going to rape and murder you." He filled in, his chair turned now and his eyes on her's. "I thought it smarter to call you my wife than my greatest rival whom I am trying to kill, but not this time"

His last sentence almost forced a smile out of her. Did he just make a joke? Maybe she wasn't feeling well, because she probably shouldn't find humor in his words. Rey found a loose thread on her clothing to toy and fiddled with it. "Well, at least I didn't miss it. It would be a shame, a girl not remembering her own wedding day."

His force signature changed to something mixed with light. They shared an unusually comfortable silence.

"I didn't know you'd wanted a real wedding. I'll keep that in mind if we renew our vows."

That time she did smile, but kept her eyes down at the string she pinched and twirled. She was sure he was trying to sound sarcastic. He didn't, though. Rey could feel the bond disconnecting, then Ben was disappearing at the corner of her eye. When he was gone, Rey mused quietly to herself, "Goodbye, husband."

...Goodbye, wife. 

Rey heard him in her mind, painfully aware that he heard her last words. Her face flushed, thinking on the lingering change in Ben toward the end of the bond. He had felt very different. Kind and light and-

…

Warm

...

He felt warm.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first posted fic. This is a sweet one-shot, but I have more works. Some finished and others are longer WIPs. I have a tendency to get new ideas and take a break from what I'm currently on, so I promise I won't roll those out until they are finished, so you aren't left hanging after a 20k word investment.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this and maybe look forward to the Reylo stories to come! I have more one-shots ready to go, but I'll wait until I see how this one goes over.
> 
> This story was inspired by laying very comfortably in bed and not wanting to move.


End file.
